Restraining Inflation Has not Traditionally Been a Central Bank's Only Task

An otherwise useful NYT article on the ending of Mario Draghi's tenure as the president of the European Central Bank (ECB) included the bizarre assertion that restraining inflation is "traditionally a central bank’s only task." This is not at all true, as central banks around the world have often acted to increase employment and maintain financial stability. In fact, the Federal Reserve Board quite explicitly has a dual mandate for price stability and high employment.

The piece is correct in...